Power Hour Techniques.....

The purpose of power hour is to transcribe as many lines as possible in one hour at a nonstop pinky-finger-punishing, thumb-cracking, fingernail-chipping, keyboard-annihilating, full-blast rate of speed. It's brutal. At the end of power hour, you may need to replace your keyboard, so have one handy.

The Rules:

~No bathroom breaks.

~No food on desk.

~No drinks on desk.

~No phone calls.

~No doorbell answering.

~No email checking.

~No responding to children unless they're being locked outside the house.

The Tips:

~Early morning is the best time for power hour.

~The more the merrier: Compete with other medical transcriptionists. The transcriptionist with the most lines at the end of power hour is the winner and gets to gloat mercilessly.

The Prep:

~Pick the dictators. For power hour purposes, we don't want Dr. Um Uhhhh, Dr. Sleepytime or Dr. Phlegm. We want power dictators, someone who can really dish it out.

~Make sure there is at least an hour's worth of work to be transcribed. Line the jobs up.

~Eat.

~Consume a decent dose of caffeine.

~Adjust chair for maximum comfort.

~Lubricate foot pedal.

~Crack knuckles.

~Set timer for one hour.

Bring. It. On.